Although Chu Tian was supposedly in charge of handling the transaction, in reality, he was putting on airs and directing everything from behind the scenes, leaving all the face-to-face negotiations to Ouyang Jing.
Still, he made two appearances to play his part. During the first, taking advantage of the crowd, he quietly slipped a thread of his mental power into Wei Li’s mind.
That probe revealed the truth about Wei Li’s abilities.
The branches of mental-type abilities really were a complicated mess. Wei Li’s ability turned out to be remarkably similar in function to the doctor’s mutated ability.
This made Chu Tian even more certain that the doctor’s mutated ability was indeed connected in some way to the water in the space.
Wei Li’s ability allowed him to identify ability users and determine the types of their abilities. Unlike the doctor, however, he didn’t see colors at all. Instead, he experienced something resembling an instinctive intuition.
It was difficult to describe, and far more abstract than the doctor’s ability. If Chu Tian hadn’t used his mental power to enter Wei Li’s subconscious and experience that sensation firsthand, he might have found it difficult to understand as well.
To give an example, it was like touching fire and instinctively feeling the heat, or touching ice and instinctively feeling the cold. The sensation was almost entirely instinctive.
Chu Tian then boldly tested him once more and discovered that Wei Li’s ability was probably at Level Four. He had likely only recently reached that level, and his ability was still somewhat unstable. Furthermore, he had no other mutated abilities.
Only then did Chu Tian finally let go of the tension he had been carrying.
After all, as someone whose mental ability specialized in attacks, he understood better than anyone just how dangerous such an ability could be to other humans.
In fact, Chu Tian had also discussed with Xiao Ziran why Xie Mingxuan’s control ability had such a weak effect on humans. According to Quan Xiaoyu’s description, Yu Ning, who had suddenly awakened a Level Two ability back then, had been far more capable of controlling humans than Xie Mingxuan.
In the end, they had reached a conclusion: intelligence!
Xie Mingxuan’s intelligence was simply too low. His instincts allowed him to control zombies whose intelligence was even worse than his own. Furthermore, low-level zombies were instinctively afraid of him.
He simply hadn’t figured out how to control humans yet. It wasn’t a problem with the ability itself, but with the method.
“Before Wei Li leaves, we need to keep the children and Xie Mingxuan hidden. Ideally, the two big cats should avoid them too,” Chu Tian reminded Xiao Ziran, almost instinctively.
Xiao Ziran wholeheartedly agreed.
The last time Wei Li saw Dawn Base was after the transaction between the two sides had been completed.
The supplies Chu Tian had requested arrived within five days, which genuinely surprised him. Given the An family’s resources, obtaining those items shouldn’t have been a problem.
The problem was getting everything delivered within five days. Before the apocalypse, Chu Tian might have considered even a one-day delivery too slow.
But this was the apocalypse!
Five days was practically lightning speed, especially for such a large quantity of weapons. They must already have had arrangements and resources positioned in the surrounding areas to deliver everything so quickly.
Chu Tian hadn’t even had time to formulate a response to this discovery when another piece of bad news arrived.
Several days earlier, the entire team sent to investigate the missing-person cases, including Zuo Li, had disappeared.
This was truly terrible news!
As a core member of Dawn Base’s security team, Zuo Li had gone missing along with an entire squad of elite personnel. That alone was a major incident for the base.
The moment Xiao Ziran received the news, he went straight to the scene.
It was a relief station northwest of Dawn Base. Zuo Li and his team had discovered some clues there, entered the surrounding forest, and never returned.
Consequently, after completing the handover with Wei Li, Chu Tian could barely conceal his impatience. Even his final handshake was perfunctory.
Of course, after receiving the information, Wei Li and his people hadn’t simply taken a stack of papers home without looking at them. They had studied the materials carefully and even conducted an experiment on the spot before finally becoming ecstatic with excitement.
Wei Li had never expected that, after all their research, the key would turn out to be a healing-type ability user.
Perhaps it was Miss An’s supposedly “universal love” that had prevented any of them from thinking to include her in their experiments.
Now they had a readily available Level Three healing-type ability user and a large stockpile of crystal cores they had secretly accumulated. Before long, they would be able to build a powerful army of ability users!
Just thinking about it made Wei Li tremble with excitement.
His own ability was to identify other people’s abilities, which meant he could recruit ability users faster than anyone else. Before long, he would have a powerful army firmly under his control!
At the same time, Wei Li privately sneered at Chu Tian and Xiao Ziran for their stupidity. They had actually asked for weapons!
In the future, the strongest forces would undoubtedly be armies composed of ability-user soldiers.
As zombies continued to evolve and human civilization’s modern industry regressed, conventional firearms would eventually disappear from the stage of history!
Although Chu Tian came from an influential family, he was ultimately still wet behind the ears and unlikely to achieve anything significant. As for Xiao Ziran, he was merely a commoner who had risen to his current position by taking advantage of the apocalypse. Wei Li didn’t consider him worthy of his attention at all.
Of course, all these thoughts remained hidden in his mind. He showed none of them on his face and continued to treat Chu Tian and Xiao Ziran with courtesy and respect.
Moreover, he still had some doubts about Chu Tian.
The Chu family seemed to have paid no attention to the fact that Chu Tian had established a survivor base in the south. This made it difficult for Wei Li to determine whether the founding of Dawn Base had been authorized by the Chu family or was simply the brainchild of their young master.
Then there was Chu Tian himself. Wei Li had a vague sense that Chu Tian was an ability user, yet he couldn’t identify what kind of ability he possessed!
He had made indirect inquiries and quietly gathered information around the base. The answers he received were that Chu Tian had come from the north, and on the day he arrived, nearly all the major figures at Dawn Base had come out to welcome him.
This information matched the intelligence they had previously obtained and was consistent with Chu Tian’s identity and background.
Beyond that, however, the people at Dawn Base knew virtually nothing about Chu Tian, let alone what kind of ability he possessed.
“Mr. Chu, it’s been a pleasure working with you.” Wei Li’s hand trembled slightly as he shook Chu Tian’s hand. He was so excited that he could barely contain himself.
Chu Tian gave his hand a brief shake and immediately released it. His mind was already elsewhere. Regardless of what arrangements the An family had made, he believed his own family would have countermeasures in place. If he hadn’t seen anyone from his family yet, perhaps the time simply hadn’t come.
Right now, the more pressing matter was Zuo Li’s disappearance. Chu Tian wished Wei Li would hurry up and get out of his sight.
“Since our cooperation has been so pleasant, Mr. Wei, you’d better hurry back with your people and begin working on leveling up. There’s no time to waste,” Chu Tian said, his words carrying a hint of sarcasm.
“Brother Chu, I really like Dawn Base! Could I stay here and have some fun for a few more days?” Miss An asked, blinking her round eyes and gazing at Chu Tian with an eager expression.
It was rare for her to have been quiet for most of the day, but now she was making her move.
Originally, she had looked down on the ordinary people outside the capital. But after learning Chu Tian’s identity, her attitude had changed completely.
Since the apocalypse, the Chu family’s power had not diminished in the slightest. In fact, thanks to their effective handling of the initial outbreak, their influence had grown even greater than before.
The apocalypse had also brought the Bai and Chu families’ cooperation out into the open. Previously, the two families had maintained their alliance in secret. Now, their comprehensive partnership had become public knowledge, and together they had effectively become the most powerful force in the capital.
However, the Bai family’s only son of this generation, Bai Mingxi, had gone missing after the apocalypse, attracting considerable attention. People were speculating that if the young master of the Bai family was already dead, who would eventually inherit the family’s power?
Chu Tian had also been missing for a time, but the Chu family’s eldest and second sons were still around and thriving. Consequently, Chu Tian’s disappearance had attracted far less attention than Bai Mingxi’s.
Now Chu Tian had resurfaced, and there was also intelligence suggesting that someone at Dawn Base might be Bai Mingxi. That person, however, had never appeared since the An family’s group arrived.
Miss An wanted to stay partly because she was interested in Chu Tian, but more importantly, she wanted to confirm Bai Mingxi’s existence. After all, being the only son of the Bai family was an extremely attractive prospect.
“Miss An, crystal-core purification urgently requires your healing ability. For the greater good, I’m afraid you’ll have to make a sacrifice. Dawn Base is under construction everywhere, and the place is a complete mess. There’s really nothing fun to do here,” Chu Tian replied, rejecting her outright.
Who the hell was her “Brother Chu”?
He couldn’t even be bothered to offer the usual polite excuses, such as Come visit again sometime or You’re welcome to return whenever you like.
An Xuexi was unwilling to give up and wanted to say something more, but this time Wei Li came to her assistance—or rather, he intervened to get her moving.
Unlike Miss An, whose attention was focused entirely on the young masters of the Bai and Chu families, Wei Li’s ambitions extended far beyond that. He was already impatient to begin large-scale leveling-up operations.
Unfortunately, his grand plans still depended on An Xuexi, a young woman whom he considered clever but who had never put her intelligence to proper use.
As a result, his persuasion was even more direct than Chu Tian’s.
Although Miss An was somewhat willful, she surprisingly tended to listen to Wei Li. In the end, she didn’t insist on staying, though she left with obvious reluctance.
After more than ten days of causing a commotion at Dawn Base, the entire group of unwelcome visitors finally departed.
The higher-ups at Dawn Base all breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, this experience had made them realize that they were no longer the ragtag group of survivors who had once fled from place to place. They had now stepped onto the political stage.
Similar incidents would continue to happen in the future, and they would have to learn how to handle them.
After seeing off the unwelcome guests, Chu Tian quickly coordinated with Ouyang Jing. He was going to gather a team and catch up with Xiao Ziran at the place where Zuo Li had disappeared.